A painful roar travels across the forest. The man-eater cries out so much pain that it immediately releases its grip on Ivaru, and touches the back of its neck.
Xiao's tank buster bolt shot had dealt tremendous damage to the man-eater as the bolt sank deeply into its skin.
Earlier, the moment the bolt pierced into the man-eater's neck, the impact was so powerful that the man-eater lost its balance. Everything happened too fast for the man-eater to realize that it got shot in the neck, followed by the excruciating pain, and blood only burst out after a few seconds.
Upon looking at the damage he dealt to the man-eater, Xiao let out a smirk and glanced at the crossbow he had created, amazed by the end result of it.
Xiao got his wish now, as the man-eater furiously searched for the one who caused the pain, and its eyes stopped at Xiao.
With the fang showing and the low growl, the man-eater glare was locked onto Xiao. He was about to face the full wrath of the man-eater.
"That's it, come here. Let's play!" Xiao had his Gamer Eyes and armament on standby, ready to branch the upcoming onslaught.
Though this is not how Xiao usually fights, as he always studies his opponent first before getting into a battle. He is always extra prepared for any fight, considering all surprise elements and advantages factors.
So this will be the first fight where Xiao needs to act as a decoy and constantly be in the enemy's sight.
("Alright! Got its attention. Now I have to lure it away from Iva.")
While Xiao was still thinking about his next move, the man-eater leapt toward him in rage, with its arms lifted high in the air, ready to smash him down.
Xiao jumped backwards beforehand as his Gamer Eyes had already warned him about the attack. Though he successfully dodged the brutal smash of the man-eater, it still gave him chill as he didn't expect the attack to be so fast.
The man-eater looks at the ground and expects Xiao to end up a meat paste. It was not happy to see the clean grassy floor and Xiao standing unharmed.
The man-eater failed attack has provoked it to give in to its anger as it starts leaping toward Xiao, smashing and stomping the spot Xiao was standing.
Xiao managed to jump and dodged away every single strike of the man-eater. To Xiao, getting hit even once will be a game over for him and Ivaru. He will definitely survive thanks to his undying ability. Still, a single punch or a kick from the brute will easily knock him out, which means he will be unconscious while Ivaru got taken away by the man-eater.
At first, Xiao thought of making the man-eater use up all its Strength. Still, seeing how its attack got faster and more ferocious, it won't be long before he got tired and finally received a solid hit.
("Goddamn it! All I am doing now is only adding fuel to its fire. I should have expected from a brute beast. Monstrous vigour and unlimited stamina.")
Xiao knows he needs to do something other than dodging around. He can't counter-attack because the man-eater attacks were a string of continuous rampaging. The interval between one strike and the next was too short for Xiao to launch an attack.
As Xiao was cycling what option he had against the man-eater while also dodging its deadly strike, he recalled the place they were currently at.
Xiao immediately put his plan in motion. The moment he dodges one more attack by backwards jumping further away, and starts running towards the area with big trees and branches.
Without a second thought, the man-eater gives chase like a rabid dog. It was too furious to think anything other than pummeling Xiao to the ground.
It was only until the man-eater entered the area with big trees and branches that it realized what Xiao was up to. Because of its enormous body, the big trees have made it harder to move and lock on to Xiao.
The more reckless the man-eater trying to force its way to reach Xiao, the more challenging it gets along the way. The man-eater tripped over tree trunks, and its eyes kept getting poked by pesky tree branches. And it wasn't long before the man-eater completely lost sight of Xiao.
Everything was not going the way the man-eater wanted. Still suffering the pain of its deep wound, the man-eater had reached its rage limit. It threw a tantrum, roaring senselessly as it smashed and destroyed everything in the area.
With the environmental advantage, Xiao easily traverses the woods and manages to distance himself far away from the man-eater. He was hiding behind a big tree, catching his breath while thinking about his next move.
Xiao knew it was only a matter of time before the man-eater's rage settled down and gave up pursuing him. It would then return to Ivaru and continue doing whatever it plans to do with her.
So Xiao needs to come up with a plan, fast.
("Strength, speed and toughness. It beat me in every aspect, not to mention its high resistance against physical attack. Judging from the countless scars on its body, I can say for sure that many adventurers died trying to kill it. The only weakness is a strong magic attack. Great, another enemy that is my worst compatible.")
Once again, an impossible enemy Xiao cannot beat. He can't run away because that would mean abandoning Ivaru, which is something Xiao would never do, even if he has to die countless times.
("What if I run past it and carry Iva to run away? No, that would be too risky. I feel that it will just track her down. Through smell? Or something else? Hell, it can even go through the fog. And first of all, I don't even know what it wants with Iva. Eat her, maybe?")
Xiao still doesn't know the objective of the man-eater. Nevertheless, he thought it was pointless to think about it now.
("Well, no use thinking stuff that didn't help me to improve the situation.")
Xiao went through all the information he had gathered from the man-eater. He also observed the terrain while checking the current bombs and daggers at his disposal.
"Alright, I got it. As reckless as the plan sound, this is the best I could think of for now, and I got only one shot." Xiao said it aloud to reassure himself as he finally devised a plan.
Xiao took a deep breath to prepare himself to execute his outrageous plan. He then took a peak at the man-eater.
The man-eater may have already stopped smashing the trees, but it was still trying to locate Xiao.
Xiao made up his mind. Statically speaking, there is no way Xiao can defeat it, be it level and all other aspects. Yet...
"If it lives," Xiao ready his Hundred Form Switch Knife, Chameleon.
"I can kill it."